Sandro believes Tottenham need to be more wary of Philippe Coutinho than Luis Suarez when they take on Liverpool.

Sandro is a big admirer of his fellow countryman Coutinho and has compared the attacker to Brazil legend Ronaldinho.

Sandro is likely to be given the job of trying to keep Coutinho quiet at White Hart Lane on Sunday, and he fees the 21-year-old pulls the strings for Liverpool and provides Premier League top scorer Suarez with the ammunition to score.

"With the ball, Coutinho's passes are like Ronaldinho's. He doesn't move a lot - but his passing! You think he is going to pass here and he passes there instead," Sandro told the Daily Mirror.

"He does the same as Ronaldinho. You think he's going to do one thing and he does something completely different. He changes. Ronaldinho was the best player but I think their style is similar. I'm happy for him. He is young but he [has started] good at Liverpool. It is difficult to do that at Liverpool.

"Suarez is a great footballer and in a great spell of form. He has scored a lot of goals but we are going to push to hold him and stop him. We know he can score wherever he is on the pitch. He can do something out of nothing but it is not just him. When Coutinho plays he has a good pass on him and he is an intelligent guy.

"It will be me or Etienne Capoue who will try to stop Coutinho. I don't think a lot before the game; just when I am there, I want to stop him, stop his freedom. If midfielders have freedom they can do something to hurt you. I want to be close to him and tackle him."

Sandro is also likely to lock horns with Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva on Sunday, with both players rivalling each other for a place in Brazil's World Cup squad.

The 24-year-old has thanked Lucas for supporting him during his time on the sidelines with a serious knee problem, and Sandro believes he is now a better player than he was before the injury.

"It is difficult to say that Lucas is a 'rival' for the World Cup because he is a close friend," added Sandro. "When my knee happened, Luca was the first guy who called me because he had suffered the same injury.

"Everyone knows it was a difficult moment for me. When I came back to training and games, I felt as though I couldn't play. Everything was new for me.

"I felt like I would come back but all the time I thought: 'I don't know whether I will be the same player'. All the time I thought about it. But now I am better than before!"